A Brilliant Double-Decker Armrest That Would Make Flying Less Hellish

Images: Paperclip Design Limited

It’s the unspoken battle that takes place every day on flights around the world, between friends and strangers alike: deciding who gets the armrest. Now, a Hong Kong designer has found a simple, brilliant way to make peace and keep everyone happy. Just don’t expect to see it in an airplane anytime soon.

James Lee’s “paperclip armrest” eliminates the power struggle for who gets to put their arm down with a double-decker design: There are two levels, so each person has their own real estate.

The clever idea came to Lee eight years ago during a lecture at MIT, where he studied aeronautics engineering. The guy next to him had snatched the armrest, leaving Lee thinking: If this thing had another level, I could rest comfortably. He’s worked on it off and on since then, winning several design awards along the way. After launching Paperclip Design Limited in 2012, he dug into moving the project from concept to commercialization.

It’s a great idea, especially for air travel. Packed into coa… er, economy class, the battle for the armrests — and the precious few inches of extra space they offer — is a zero-sum game. With Paperclip, everyone wins.

But getting these things into airplanes may be as difficult as sleeping soundly on a red-eye. Airlines are obsessed with cutting costs (the global airline industry is expects to clear a net profit margin of just 2.4 percent this year). If something doesn’t cut weight (like thinner seats) or allow airlines to charge a premium (like extra leg room), there’s little incentive to invest in it.

Images: Paperclip Design Limited

If airlines make our lives truly terrible, they may give us the Paperclip as consolation. Some are thinking about putting 10 seats in each row of the Boeing 777 where today there are nine, Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst said, which would bring in huge economic benefits. “If this sort of feature were to facilitate that without detracting from the customer experience,” it would be worthwhile.

Even if airlines are interested in something that might make flying slightly less hellish, getting something like the paperclip armrest into an airplane requires complying with reams of regulations, which can vary from one country to the next and completing extensive testing. That process takes years, not months, Mann said.

But you might see them in theaters. Lee is pitching the idea to cinemas in Europe and the United States, where people have more room but inevitably squabble over armrests. The problem is making it cost-effective. Upfront cost is high. “It’s a very straightforward shape,” Lee says, but the plastic injection mold that produces it can run around $50,000.

That’s the problem Lee is trying to solve. He’s talking with some clients, but hasn’t worked out any deals. We’d rather find the Paperclip on a cross-country flight than the local movie theater, but we’ll take what we can get.